Payback
by ChiaraMon
Summary: Nora and Pyrrha have been trying to get Ren and Jaune outside for weeks to no success. A fun day out with team RWBY does wonders to lift their spirits. Fluffy, pseudocanonical filler fic. For r/RWBY's Writing Prompt Wednesday #172 [Prompt: "Jaune and Ren's increasingly creative excuses to avoid accompanying RWBY Pyrrha and Nora when they're all shopping in downtown Vale."]


"Last chance, nerds! You'll be back by four- five at the latest, we promise!" As Jaune and Ren turned to face the door of their room, they saw Yang poking her head in, teasing them with a grin. "Come on, it'll be good for you to get out, clear out the cobwebs up there," she said, tapping the side of her head with her fingers.

Jaune laughed and shook his head _'no'_. "Sorry Yang, no can do on this one. Hey, maybe next time."

"Alright then, catch you later!" She pulled out of the room with a wave.

* * *

Not forty minutes later, in downtown Vale, Nora and Ruby practically flew out of the bus doors and onto the city sidewalk. Yang followed with Blake's arm in hand, yanking her partner out of the book she'd used to tune out the loud bus ride. Weiss stepped out onto the sidewalk in a stately posture, and Pyrrha rounded out the group at the rear.

"Okay," Blake started, packing her book and readers into her bag. "I wanted to show off this neat little spot I found the other week." Picking up the chatter as they marched on, the girls of teams RWBY and JNPR followed the lead of their resident faunus guide. Their first stop, a cafe near the docks with a balcony and a calming view onto the harbor that Blake praised, soon came into view.

With the six of them, the balcony was a bit more crowded than Blake had anticipated, but setting a few tables together and pushing the excess chairs off to the side had made more than enough room for a cozy early afternoon brunch. As the repeat customer of the group, Blake volunteered herself to sit on the end, back to the skyline so the others could take in the view. Yang sat to her left, followed by Ruby at the head of the table opposite Nora. Across from Yang and Blake sat Weiss and Pyrrha respectively.

Yang was holding back her laughter as Ruby wrapped up her story of the time their father almost set their cabin home on fire trying to cook them a surprise breakfast in bed. Judging by Yang's expressive grin, the story was just getting to the best part.

"... And then, he finished wiping his hands off and tossed the rag back onto the counter, next to the burner...", Ruby recited, her intonation swelling in suspense as Nora, tearing up already, choked her mounting laughter into her hand.

"But it was the same towel-" pushed Yang, already itching to hear her sister tell their friends what happened next.

"It was the same towel he used to wipe up the grease that spilled on the stovetop earlier!" Ruby's voice cracked in laughter and Nora was already all giggles as Yang leaned in to carry on.

"The damn thing lit up like a bonfire and he tossed it over to the sink... but missed - _of course_ \- and it landed in the wastebin full of oily paper towels!" By now, the two sisters were fighting to breathe through the tears as they watched the group react to the turn of events. Nora erupted into a thunder of laughter and even Weiss almost spat out her ill-timed sip of tea as she chuckled, mouth cupped in her hand.

"Wait, I don't get it," Blake interjected, catching her breath and wiping a tear out of her eye. "Didn't you say you two were in bed? How did you see all this?"

"Oh god no!" Yang turned to her and elaborated, regaining her composure as well. "As soon as we saw his grocery bags the night before, we knew what was up!" Ruby was slapping her stomach in her giggle-fit as Yang went on, "I got up first thing and made sure I set an early alarm for Rubes so we could keep watch and jump in if we needed to!"

The girls spend a good few minutes recovering their breath as the laughter waned from the story. Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss caught Pyrrha fixing her eyes on the horizon once more. Unable to place her expression, she tentatively reached a hand out to her shoulder. "I don't mean to pry," she whispered as the others were still lightly giggling. "But is everything okay?"

Pyrrha turned to her and smiled. "I'm sorry," she started. "My mind was just elsewhere for a moment." Weiss smiled back and opted to shelf the topic. The redhead had been eyeing the horizon since they sat down, but if she wasn't looking particularly troubled and didn't want to vent, there was no need to press her.

Ruby noticed Pyrrha's vacant stare as well, and turned her head to join her in the view. It really did look astounding, the sunlight beaming off the water surface of the bay, with just enough cloud coverage to prevent an overpowering glare. "It really is a nice view, huh?"

Blake smiled and swiveled around in her chair, resting her arms on the railing of the balcony with a soft, "Yeah..." Yang turned her body around and sat with her legs sandwiching the back of her chair.

Pyrrha spoke back up, a smile on her face. "It reminds me of the view from back home," she trailed off into the skyline, a muted smile now reaching across her cheeks. Weiss and Nora turned to take it the view with the rest of the table as Pyrrha continued, "in the port city of Argus, there was a sprawling and bustling shoreline, with a vast, stretching road that carved down the coast of Mistral..." The other girls stared out, captivated by her description as she waxed nostalgic, "and there were lot of cafes off that center street. Little, quiet, cozy places just like this."

Yang rested her head on her arms draped over the back of her chair. "I bet this place couldn't hold a candle to that view," she marveled.

"On the contrary Yang, I prefer this view," Pyrrha said warmly, provoking a couple of inquisitive glances from the group. "I have friends to share _this_ one with."

"Oh, Pyrrha..." Weiss turned to her, looking near the verge of tearing up.

"Ah- I'm sorry," Pyrrha stuttered, "I didn't mean that in a sad way. I just really appreciate having people to share moments like these with," she smiled. The rest of the girls turned and smiled back warmly to her- with the exception of Nora, who was hunched over, grimacing through her hands.

"It's a shame that _some people_ decided they'd rather stay cooped up in their room all day," Nora shot out coldly.

Ruby frowned and tried to console her, "I'm sure Ren and Jaune wished they could be here too, Nora. Jaune's still probably having a hard time with that ankle injury a couple days ago. When I saw him, he was still limping."

Nora looked at Ruby with a sudden skeptical glance. "Wait, what injury?"

"Yeah Ruby," Blake responded. "Jaune was looking well when I saw him earlier today. It's Ren I'm worried about; he's probably still bedridden from that lotus beetle flu or whatever that Jaune said he caught."

Nora pivoted to Blake in an instant, "I'm sorry. _What_."

Weiss' eyes darted among the girls as they spoke, slowly sighing as she pieced together what this conversation was beginning to hint towards.

"Hang on, I saw them just before we left and they both seemed fine." Yang chimed in. "I also tried to get them to tag along earlier, but they said they were gonna be busy prepping for an important Smash Fighters tournament between you guys and team CFVI."

Nora growled through gritted teeth. _"That tournament... was **months** ago."_

_"Tch."_ Weiss huffed. "How shameful. They couldn't even keep their lie straight!"

"Oh, I can't _believe_ them!" Nora started, only to have Pyrrha intervene with a hand on her arm.

"Nora, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation," she tried.

Nora sighed, making an effort to cool down. "They've been dodging us _all week_ Pyrrha... You can't tell me you haven't noticed it too."

After a moment letting Nora's reply sink in, Pyrrha could only sigh, her hand slipping away and landing deflated at her side.

Blake and Yang turned around to face the dejected girls of team JNPR and each mustered a sad sigh on consolation.

Ruby, setting the silence aside, piped up to change the mood. "Hey, let's not worry about boys right now!" She stood up and gestured to the still-vibrant town below. "The day is still young, and there's plenty of things to do out there!" The girls looked among themselves and exchanged nods and smiles.

* * *

What followed into the evening was an afternoon of adventures, shopping, sight-seeing and partying that spanned comic shops, a restaurant, clothing and makeup stores, a movie theatre, a bookstore and finally, the downtown plaza. Since they left that cafe, all the girls could think about was how much fun it was to go out like this, and what they would do next. All of the fresh air, exercise and new sights of exploring downtown Vale seemed to have acted as a mental 'reset button' for Nora and Pyrrha, and they couldn't even feel the ghost of pain or anger anymore.

The group had dispersed to browse the various stalls of the plaza. As Pyrrha walked past one particular vendor, something caught her eye. She stopped in her tracks and stared for a bit in contemplation. Nora poked her head over to see what her friend and roommate was browsing, and shortly found her answer. "Oh. That's..."

On the vendor's shelves were several artworks, concepts and collections of the Daring Detectives comics that Sun and Neptune had gotten Jaune and Ren into. "Apparently, the illustrator is local," Pyrrha laughed, pointing at the woman running the stall, who waved back with a smile. Pyrrha picked up two of the the full-color illustrations - one of Jaune's favourite character and one of Ren's - and shrugged with a smile at Nora.

Nora glanced between Pyrrha and the illustration she was gesturing her to in her hand, and it seemed the woman across from them was not the only one attempting to make a sale at this particular stall. _"Fiiiiiiiine."_ Nora rolled her eyes and smiled back, taking the artwork. "Now c'mon, the other girls wanna take a trip down the boardwalk at sunset!" After paying the artist, the girls left the stall to go meet up with the rest of their group.

After one last hike along the downtown shoreline and one quiet bus ride's worth of recuperation, the girls parted to their respective dorms. "Hey. Same time next week?" Yang proposed. Blake nodded with a smile, and the others followed. "You bet!" Nora practically yawned out with a wave as they teams split.

The night coming to a close, Nora and Pyrrha walked into their dorm. With the boys were nowhere in sight, they plopped their bags down on the ground and placed their gifts at their respective partners' beds. Collapsing into their own at last, they simultaneously surrendered to a deep yawn. Quickly realizing neither would be awake to present the boys their souvenirs, they turned in and shut the lights. Less than ten minutes later, the two were sound asleep.

* * *

_\- Next week -_

"You've got to be _kidding me_!" Nora shouted. _"Again?!"_

Pyrrha looked at her partner and raised a concerned eyebrow. It wasn't natural, she thought, for Jaune to be this secretive and defensive with her. "Jaune... what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, Pyr!" Jaune stammered out a laugh. "It's just... Ah, you know, we're both just so backed up with homework and all..."

Emerald eyes narrowed slightly at Jaune as Pyrrha reminded him, "we have the same classes, Jaune." This caused Jaune to wince slightly. Her lips closed tight and voice sank to a low monotone as she muttered out sternly under her breath, _"and you _know _I've been helping you with yours all semester long..."_

"Y-Yeah, but..." Jaune frantically scanned the room and saw even Ren showing signs of a disturbed composure. "It's Ren!" The quiet boy looked at the pair in response. "Ren's waaaaay behind, and he asked me for help!" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as the girls' expressions faulted to an uninterested, almost insulted grimace.

The silence that followed that daring lie festered for what felt to the boys like minutes before Nora cut through it with a low, but somehow still piercing reply. "You can't. Be serious."

Ren walked up and sat in the vacant bed next to Jaune as it was clear that, if they were going to salvage this excuse, he would need to lend his stoic voice. He breathed out, "I admit. I was surprised, but Jaune's..." Ren paused, already feeling the sweat on his palms as his hands rubbed together in his lap. _'Think, Ren. What class gives you the most trouble?'_ He took another breath and continued, "he's actually really grasping Semblance Control And Combat quite- ... quickly..." His and Jaune's eyes both widened as he realized his oversight on that particular fib.

_"**Ughhhhh**, forget it Pyrrha,"_ Nora growled, an increasing anger evident in her voice. "The _boys_ of team JNPR _clearly_ have more fun sitting in this _boring room_ all day than being out with us." She stomped over and grasped onto Pyrrha's wrist as she attempted to yank her out of the room quickly.

Though her eyes were still honed in on Jaune's, Pyrrha's expression had sunk into a simple dejected frown. A twinge of regret echoed through his body into a cacophony and for a moment, he almost opened his mouth to speak. Only a glottal whisper followed though, as his breath got caught in his throat. The conversation that played out only on their faces was clear; Jaune was keeping something secret from her. Pyrrha and Nora saw right through them, but it was obvious now the boys weren't going to budge.

Pyrrha surrendered to Nora's tugging and backed out of the room slowly, but her head could not turn away from Jaune. Painfully, Jaune followed her hurt expression all the way out until their gaze was broken by the door frame. After a final huff from Nora it slammed shut and the whole room went still.

Moments later, a faint buzz emanating from Jaune's chair caught their attention. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the scroll responsible for the noise and checked his messages. His eyes widened a bit as he glanced back to the now-inquisitive-looking Ren.

"They... came in," Jaune said softly as he scanned the rest of the message. "Just earlier today, it looks like."

"... Oh." Ren sighed and got up from the bed, pacing over to the window. After a moment's pause he turned back to face Jaune. "How much time?"

"The place is open late, thankfully. But..." Jaune looked down to the floor and cupped his chin in his hand.

Ren picked up the thought the blond had left and finished, "we'll have to avoid running into them." Jaune looked back up to him and they shared a nod.

* * *

One forty minute bus ride later, Jaune and Ren sidled out of the downtown shop, each with a small box in tow. They scanned the perimeter and nodded clear to one another.

"Last step." Ren fixed his gaze in the direction of the bus stop they arrived at.

"Mhmm," Jaune replied. "Almost back at the dorms." Donning a determined face, he began walking to their destination, Ren following in step. "Make it back at the dorms, and our plan goes off without a hitch!"

Jaune was turning a corner when Ren saw him freeze in his tracks. "Oh..." The blond squeaked out

"What is it?" Ren asked, picking up his pace.

"A hitch..." Jaune squeaked out as Ren rounded the corner to the sight of an enraged Nora stomping toward them.

_**"WHAT-"**_

"Nora," Ren pleaded, raising his free hand in truce.

_**"DO-"**_

"Nora please," Jaune begged, raising his arm up to guard his head.

_**"YOU TWO-"**_

"We're sorry!" Ren backed up slightly, his shoulders tensing up.

_**"THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!"**_

Pyrrha walked up and stood behind Nora, frowning at the boys. Behind her, all of team RWBY filed in.

"Well, I _hope_ you two are happy," chided Weiss. "The girls really were looking forward to a day out with you guys."

"Jaune..." Pyrrha approached. "What is this... why all the secrecy?" She demanded. "If you truly didn't want to come out with us..." she began, her trembling eyes falling to the ground.

Jaune winced at the sight of it and could not handle it anymore. He knew that to end this, he and his companion would have to come clean now. "Ren!" Jaune ordered. "Back-up plan. Present... _the contraband_."

On cue, Ren faced Nora and bowed to her as he thrust the small box he'd been holding towards her. It was a plain white box with a thin pink ribbon tied around it. She froze in place and blinked in confusion for a few moments before taking it in her hands and tugging at the ribbon.

Jaune approached Pyrrha, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "This... is for you." He presented her a similarly plain box, but in red, with a gold ribbon. She opened the box and an instant later her mouth disappeared into her hand.

In the box was a small leather case- the perfect size and shape, she noticed, to cover the material end of her scroll. It was painted in a red that matched the sash around her waist, and featured golden inlaid maple leaf patterns scattered in a gust across the design.

"Ren..." Nora faintly squeaked next to Pyrrha as she turned to face her. She held up her scroll to Pyrrha, clad in a protective case of pink and lilac with a pattern of lotus leaves dotting the surface. "Look Pyrrha," she teared out. "Isn't it cute?"

"We both really loved those character portraits you girls got for us last time..." Jaune started, looking off to the side as he scratched his head. "And we wanted to return the favor."

Pyrrha smiled warmly as she affixed her present to her own scroll and showed it off in turn. "Thank you, Jaune," she turned to him, her smile beaming even brighter. "I love it!"

"So are you two ready to tag along then?" Yang beckoned them over with a swing of her arm. "C'mon, we're just about to go hit the arcade!"

Ren smiled to Jaune and shrugged. "Well," he admitted. "I _was_ kind of hoping to stop for tea some place before we went back anyway." Jaune smiled back to the group with an excited nod.

"I've got a place in mind," Blake stepped forward as the rest of the students convened behind her and followed. "It's a cafe just on the way!"


End file.
